Florida State defeated South Alabama 2-0 for their fourth straight shutout win of the season. / Riley Shaaber/FSView

Written by

Mat Hooper

Staff Writer @HooperTV

Sometimes in baseball strong pitching and a couple clutch hits is all it takes to pull out the victory. That was the case Tuesday night on Mike Martin Field for No. 6 Florida State baseball team as they beat South Alabama, 2-0 for their fourth shutout of the season.

The Seminoles improved to 31-6 a lot thanks to junior right hander Peter Miller. Miller had a gem of an outing working into the seventh inning, only allowing three total baserunners (two on hits and one walked) and zero runs on the night while also striking out four. The performance now puts Miller at 4-1 on the season.

"If he's had a better outing, than I don't know who it was against," said head coach Mike Martin. "It was a great outing for him."

For Miller, it was nice to have the strong showing after some of his past performances.

"I've had some rough outings the past few weeks but the ball kind of bounced my way this time," said Miller. "I still feel like I had good stuff like all the other outings but I just felt like things went my way this time."

Billy Strode, Gage Smith, and Robby Coles finished what Miller started. The trio combined to get the final seven outs of the game only allowing two more batters to get on base. Coles closed it out to earn his eighth save of the year.

The Seminoles weren’t the only team on the night with strong pitching though. The South Alabama starter Payton Gardner went six innings, only allowed five hits and also stuck out seven. Hunter Soleymani, who came in relief, then pitched 2 perfect innings.

"He dominated us tonight," said Martin on Gardner. "He registered seven strikeouts but it felt like 14. He did a great job; a beautifully pitched ball game."

Despite his great outing though, unlike Miller, he did allow two runs (one earned) and it would prove to be all the Seminoles needed for the victory.

The first four innings were held scoreless by both sides, but Florida State changed that in the bottom of the fifth.

The Seminoles got their first run of the game after second basemen John Sansone singled-in first basemen John Nogowski. Then after stealing second and a single by shortstop Giovanny Alfonzo that advanced Sansone to third, Florida State added on their second run on a fielder’s choice by center field Seth Miller that brought Sansone home.

"It was really big for us because he (Gardner) was really mixing that change-up great," said Sansone. "It was really hard to hit him. I was just trying to think singles and it worked out."

Martin added: "It was a good win. Our guys stayed mentally involved in the game and got it done and that is a credit to them."